Haeey eosee



(No Model.)

H. ROSER.

MEANS EOE OPERATING RAILWAY SWITCHES. No. 369,815. Patented Sept. 13,1887'.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR:

. d v 7 Z I J By his Attorney.

'UNITE STATES PATENT FMQE.

HARRY ROSER, OF LONG ISLAND CITY, ASSIGNOR TO JAMES H. SVIFT, OF SOUTHAMENIA, NEW YORK.

MEANS FOR OPERATING RAILWAY-SWITCHES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 369,815, datedSeptember 13, 1887.

Serial No. 195,378. (No model) To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY ROsER, a subject of the Queen of GreatBritain, and a resident of Long Island City, Queens county, New

York, have invented certain Improvementsin Means for Operating RailwaySwitches, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of switches for railways wherein theswitch rails are to thrown over or shifted from side to side and lockedin either position when closed. WVith such switches a detector-bar, socalled,is usually combined. In such mechanisms it is customary to employtwo operating-levers, one

to unlock and lock the switch and the other to shift'the switch-rails.

By my invention I dispense with one lever and effect the whole operationof unlocking, shifting, and locking by one movement of a single lever.

In the drawing, which serves to illustrate myinvention, I have shown themechanism of a switch in plan, with one of the locking devices inhorizontal section. The operatinglever is or may be of the usual kindemployed on railways,and needs no detailed illustration.

Let A A represent the fixed rails of the main track, and A the movableswitch-rail of the main track. B is the fixed rail of the side track,and B the movable or switch rail of the side track. These switch-rails AB are pointed at their free ends in the usual way and connected togetherby a tie-bar, O.

D D are the ties upon which the rails rest.

3 5 These are arranged in the usual way.

E represents the operating-1ever, which may be arranged with respect tothe switch and track in the usual way.

F is a rod connected with the operating-1ever E in such a manner thatthe swinging of said lever over from side to side will impart an endwisemovement to the rod, the direction of the movement depending on thedirection of the movement of the lever.

5 All of the above mechanisms and arrangements are in common use, andsuch levers and rods have before been employed both to lock and unlock aswitch and to shift the switchrails; but, so far as I am aware, this hasnever been effected by one movement of but one lever, as I have beforestated.

G and G are two be'll cranks pivotally mounted at the sides of thetrack. The rod F is connected to arm 1 of the bellcrank G, and aconnecting-rod, H, extends across the track and connects arm 2 ofbell-crank G with arm 3 of bell-crank G. To the other arm, 4:, ofbell-crank G is coupled the detector-bar I, by a rod, J. This crank G isonly employed when such detectorbar is used, and forms no essential partof myinvention.

K is a locking-bar which extends across between the points of theswitch-rails and is connected therewith. As the switch rails areshifted, this bar plays back and forth between two pairs oflocking-plates, L L, mounted between the rails. Each pair oflockingplates is provided with a bolt or plunger-rod, M M, and the endsof these plungers play through cylinders or guide-tubes a a. i 7o In thebar K are two apertures or sockets, one of which is seen at 1), intowhich the respective plungers enter when the switch is I closed and lockit closed. The locking device at L locks the switch when closed to themain 7 5 track, and the locking device at L looks it when closed to thesiding.

The plungers M M are coupled, respectively, to the arms 5 6 of a T orthree-armed crank, N, to the third arm, 7, of which the rod H is coupledat its middle.

0 represents, as a whole the concave cam device or eccentric which Iemploy for shifting the switch-rails. In this resides the most importantpart of my invention. This device has avibrating arm, 0, which isconnected by a rod, 1?, with the arm Z of bell-crank G, or to the rod F,as desired. The operation will be the same in either case. The freerounded end d of arm 0, when vibrated, plays within a concave cam, c,mounted to vibrate on a pivot or an axis, f. This cam is connected by anarm, 9, and link h'with the connected switchrails in such a manner thatthe vibration of the cam will shift said rails from side to side. 9 5

The drawing represents the switch open and unlocked and the moving partsall standing in their middle position.

The operation is as follows: If the operator wishes to set the switch tothe side track, he 10o throws over the operatinglevcr E in the directionindicated by the arrow. This has the effect at first to shift theswitch-rail A over into contact with the main-track rail A. The cam e isso shaped that the rounded end d (which may be a roller) of arm may nowplay over its surface and allow the further movement of theoperating-lever E to push the plunger M through the bolt-hole in bar Kat L, which hole will be in coincidence with or opposite to plunger Mwhen the switch is so closed. The switch will now be closed and locked.Now, if the operator wishes to close the switch to the siding he throwsthe lever E lover to the opposite side. The first effect of thismovement is to withdraw the plunger or bolt M, so as unlock the switch.This will take place before the switch -rails begin to move, by reasonof the form of the cam e,which permits the end of arm 0 to play over itsface i g for a part of the movement without displacing the cam. As soon,however, as the plunger is withdrawn, the cam begins to be displaced bythe arm 0, and the continued movements of the lever E shifts theswitch-rails until rail B closes to rail A. When the switch is closed,arm 0 will have reached a position with respect to cam e where said armmay continue to move without displacing said cam; but the movement oflever E will continue until plunger M shall have passed through thebolthole in the locking-bar K and relocked the switch. Thus it will beseen that arm 0 acts to displace or move cam 6 only during the middlepart of the movement of lever E, the first and last portions of themovement of said lever being devoted, respectively, to unlocking theswitch and relocking it after the shift. Thus by one movement of thelever E, I effect -the several results that were formerly effected bytwo or more movements of as many levers. The form of cam e is verysimple, the inner faces of its branches being formed of curves having aradius equal in length to arm 0. These curves are drawn from twocenters, tne distance between which will be governed by the extent towhich the cam is to be displaced at each vibration of arm 0. To keep thearm in contact with the cam-faces a grooved sheave may be rotativelymounted in the end of the arm, and the faces of the cam chamfered off orrounded to fit in the groove in the sheave.

Ihave not minutely described the operations of the plungers M M and thedetector-bar I, as these are well-known devices, and their operationwill be obvious from inspection of the drawings.

eaal

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. In combination, theswitch-rails, a pair of bolts or plungers adapted to alternately lockand unlock the switch-rails, a vibrating cam having are shaped holding-faces and curved cam-operating faces on opposite sides of a linepassing through its center of oscillation and through a point midwaybetween the arms of the cam when the latter is at midstroke, a vibratinglever adapted to alternately engage the said faces in the cam, a singleoperating-lever and connection between the single operating-lever andthe locking mechanism and the cam-operating lever and between thevibrating cam and the switch-rails, where- 3 by the movements of thesingle operating-lever release, shift, and lock the rails at welldefinedsteps of the stroke, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination, the single operating-lever, the connected bell-crankand three-armed levers, the former connected with the singleoperating-lever and the latter with the locking-plungers, the vibratingtwo-armed cam connected with the movable rails and the vibrating leverfor operating the two armed cam, the latter connected with the singleoperatinglever, whereby the switch is set for either the main or sidetrack and locked in position by the movement of a single lever,substantially as set forth.

3. A switch mechanism constructed substantially as herein described,consisting of the switch-connecting rods, the two cylinders and theirplungers, the three-armed crank N, bellcranks G G, detector-bar,operating-lever E, and the several connections arranged and operating tounlock, shift, and lock the switch by a single movement of theoperatinglever, substantially as set forth.

4. A combined switch shifting and locking device having the cylindersand plungers, the cam, the cam-arm, and means for operating the same, incombination with the transverse rod H and the detector-bar with itsoperating mechanism, the whole being adapted to receive motion fromasingle lever, as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

HARRY ROSER. Witnesses:

HENRY CONNETT, ISAAC N ASH.

